Erhard Schön (1491–1542)
Born 1491 CE, died 1542 CE.
Erhard Schön (c. 1491–1542) was a German woodcut designer and painter. Schön was born in Nuremberg as the son of painter Max Schön III. He probably started to learn his trade as an artist in the workshop of his father. He was clearly influenced by the printmaking of Albrecht Dürer and may have contributed a few woodcuts to Dürer's Triumphal Arch (1515) and Theuerdank (1517). Especially Schön's way of modelling and placing figures is clearly derived from Dürer. After the death of Dürer, Schön also produced a woodcut portrait of the artist. Such woodcut portraits was only one of the genres Schön worked in. He produced prints of various kind for the popular market and established himself as a popularly demanded artist. Around 1200 illustrations for 116 books in addition to 200 separate woodcuts have been attributed to Schön. His first known work is a series of woodcuts for a book, from 1513. Until 1524 he mainly illustrated religious books. Together with Hans Springinklee he provided illustrations of rather high quality for the popular prayer book Hortulus Animae in 1515. A Great Rosary form approximately the same time has been described as his finest religious work.
Text from the Wikipedia article Erhard_Schön, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.